Things I Love Thursday: Using My Whole Brain

I’ve been told (I’ll start that way so as not to appear arrogant, which I am not) that I am both a left- and a right-brain thinker. And I do know this to be true. But what got me thinking about it for this post is our speaker at my networking meeting who was one of those same types of people – able to converse with both the art and business worlds with equal skill and appreciation for what each side of the fence has to offer. I was impressed with his well-roundedness and well-spoken, at ease manner with everyone in the room and it got me thinking that those are perhaps things I overlook about myself, or under-appreciate. I take for granted that I can see the whole picture when talking with a client and understand the technical idea they are trying to communicate while being able to visualize how to best communicate that idea. For a long time, I didn’t really realize that not everyone was like this. I was often puzzled when I met people who were extremes in one direction or the other, like how was it possible they couldn’t see the other side of the proverbial coin? And sometimes I wanted to be more like one or the other, wishing I could be all artsy-fartsy, to heck with timelines and just go marching to the beat of my own drummer OR more organized and focused without falling victim to procrastination to meet a deadline. But I can’t operate in extremes – I’m a whole brain kind of gal. And I can prove it, I took an online test (totally, inarguably accurate – right), here are the results:

54% left brain | 46% right brain

To recap, right-brain = creative/artsy; left-brain = logic/math. At the office I do both graphic design and our accounting/bookkeeping. I’ve always loved math, English and art, though not the biggest fan of science (despite wanting to be a doctor until my freshman year of college). Growing up I wanted to be both an architect and a doctor and now I dream of writing a novel or a screenplay. I definitely lean a little more to the left as I value realism over fantasy. I love to read and write and I’m a list-making fool. In decision-making, I opt for a realistic solution that follows my intuition (this strong bent towards intuition often leads me to make snap decisions about whether or not I’ll like someone – this is sort of a flaw as my gutt instinct is hard to overrule, though it is often a pretty accurate indicator).

I really find it all fascinating and exhausting at the same time. Sometimes it would just be nice to only consider one aspect of a matter, rather than be influenced by everything. But for today, I’m appreciating my whole brain way of thinking and my brain in general, as long as it keeps working, I’ll be happy.*

Take the test yourself, see how it turns out for you.

This post is linked up with Jill at Diaper Diaries.

*I totally just wrote a whole post about loving my brain – sorry about that…